Germany on Wednesday agreed measures making it easier to deport foreigners who glorify acts of terror after a surge in online hate posts during the Gaza war.
Under the new rules foreigners could face deportation for “even a single comment that glorifies and condones a terrorist offence on social media”, the interior ministry said, after the cabinet agreed a draft law.
After the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which triggered the Gaza war, there was a surge in hate posts on social media in Germany with officials saying Islamists in particular were responsible.
The fatal stabbing last month of a police officer by an Afghan asylum seeker in Mannheim also triggered a surge of such posts, fuelling the debate on deportations.
“We are taking tough action against Islamist and anti-Semitic hate crimes on the internet,” said Germany Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, after ministers agreed on the measures.
“It is clear that Islamist agitators who are mentally living in the Stone Age have no place in our country. Anyone who does not have a German passport and glorifies terrorist acts here must be expelled.”
Asked about the threshold for deporting foreigners, Faeser offered assurances the changes would not target those who just made “little clicks” on social media or simply liked others’ posts.
“We are talking here about real glorification of violence,” she said, adding that online hate posts “fuel a climate of violence that can encourage extremists to commit new acts of violence”.
A ministry spokesman also stressed that foreigners ordered deported would be able to challenge decisions in courts.
The new law needs to be passed by parliament and Faeser said she hoped lawmakers would adopt it after the summer recess.
Convictions have already been made over some social media posts. A Munich imam was this month fined 4,500 euros ($4,800) for posting on Facebook that “everyone has their own way of celebrating the month of October”, on the day of the Hamas attack.
In parliament following the Mannheim attack, Chancellor Olaf Scholz also called for those who celebrate acts of terror to face deportation.
Glorifying terrorist offences amounted to a “slap in the face for the victims, their families and our democratic order”, he said.
